From the Washington Times "Watercooler"On an estimated more than 10,000 ballots in Dane County, Wisconsin, where the state capital Madison is, voters selected only a pick in the Supreme Court race, while leaving even the hotly contested mayoral and county executive choices blank. That raises red flags for election experts like Scott St. Clair of the Freedom Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Nope -- I'm consistent. Investigate the crap out of this on both sides. Democrats have long accused Republicans of trying to hold down vote totals. Our portside pals should go ahead and try to demonstrate how that happened, while the Republicans investigate what they suspect about the Democrats. Sunlight is the best disinfectant for everybody.

What should happen is an expedited process of the alleged future litigation that's supposed to land in the Wisconsin Supreme Court, a Prosser recusal (before his term expires), followed by the inevitable collapse of Kloppenburg's support amongst stories of her past agenda-driven legal "expertise". This would maximize the amount of egg on the faces of a lot of people and would best serve Wisconsin justice.

The normal Dem strategy is to let the GOP candidate take the lead on election day, but provide enough stuffed votes to keep it close. Then after the polls close, they know exactly how many ballot boxes need to be found to carry the day.

of course, there was still vote fraud, but since the Dems were probably using the AP numbers to determine how many votes they "needed" they didn't "find" enough the first time around. On the recount, they'll find enough to put Kloppy in the lead.

I also note that unlike MOST states thee doesn't seem to be a central site to check on the statewide results. In most states the Secretary of State's office compiles and publicly posts the running tallies as reported. Doesn't seem to be that way in WI.

Until the counts from Jim Wells and Duval counties are in, nobody's a winner.

Will a Prosser win (or even the current Prosser "lead") spark a new wave of violence and disruptions, or are Madisonians too tuckered out?I'd be keeping an eye out for all sorts of graffiti, swastikas, Koch-conspiracists, etc. to start showing up. Hopefully this time they don't attract such a big crowd of thugs.

Will a Prosser win (or even the current Prosser "lead") spark a new wave of violence and disruptions, or are Madisonians too tuckered out?I'd be keeping an eye out for all sorts of graffiti, swastikas, Koch-conspiracists, etc. to start showing up. Hopefully this time they don't attract such a big crowd of thugs.

From JSOnline. Wisconsin has 1850 Municipal Clerks who manage the local elections, the most in the nation.

With 1,850 elected or appointed municipal clerks who administer elections at the local level, Wisconsin has roughly one-fifth of all such clerks in the nation, said Doug Chapin, director of Election Initiatives at the Pew Center on the States in Washington. That will complicate any effort to run down exactly how many votes were cast in each village, city and town for each candidate, he said.

Okay, so if Prosser is ahead, this is the perfect moment for me to say this (since it doesn't serve my partisan interest): In elections this close, I can't help wonder whether we ought to have a revote rather than a recount. In an election that's a statistical dead heat, the tally is so close that almost any error or artifice could tilt the result. I realize the enormous problems this would cause (imagine if the second election was just as close!) but these incredibly tight margins guarantee bruised feelings and a sense of illegitimacy.

10,000 went to the polls to just vote for either Prosser or Kloppy? That makes zero freaking sense regardless of who they voted for.

I thought Milwaukee County made zero sense too. Stone just got beat by Abele by 20 points, while Prosser actually outperformed Walker by 5 points from the governor race. I suggest nothing other than it doesn't make sense to me.

I think, regardless of who's up or down, a recount is the way to go. Then let the chips (votes) fall where they may.

My comment was in reaction to people who, before the votes were all in, were already whining about voter fraud as if they had some evidence of it. John Fund said earlier today that he knew of "shenanigans" that called the result into question. He didn't produce any evidence of them, but he still said it.

My guess is that, if Prosser's lead sticks, he'll suddenly stop talking about it. It sounds like you are on the same page he is.

thought Milwaukee County made zero sense too. Stone just got beat by Abele by 20 points, while Prosser actually outperformed Walker by 5 points from the governor race. I suggest nothing other than it doesn't make sense to me.

The turnout in Waukesha makes no sense either. The turn out there was considerably lower than the sourrounding counties. If the turnout was normalized, Prosser would pick up thousands of votes. I have a feeling that corrections will be made soon.

After Tuesday night’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election, a computer error in heavily Republican Waukesha County failed to send election results for the entire City of Brookfield to the Associated Press. The error, revealed today, would give incumbent Supreme Court Justice David Prosser a net 7,381 votes against his challenger, attorney Joanne Kloppenburg. On Wednesday, Kloppenburg declared victory after the AP reported she finished the election with a 204-vote lead, out of nearly 1.5 million votes cast.

The turnout in Waukesha makes no sense either. The turn out there was considerably lower than the sourrounding counties.

Another day, another wingnut lying as he goes. In fact, Waukesha County's turnout was smack on average among counties the adjoin it. If anything the real story is the relatively low turnout in Milwaukee County.

* Divided AP-reported votes by Census population totals for 2010 or 2009 estimates. Yes, there will be inaccuracies, but they are immaterial. If anything, using 2009 estimated populations for a few of the smaller and more rural adjacent counties would bolster the wingnut lie.

Look, Kloppenberg was wrong and completely stupid to declare victory yesterday. No one has won until the vote is certified. Obviously that's easier when it's a lopsided victory. Neither of these two is the winner yet. If Prosser pulls it out, fine. I want things to be on the up-and-up just as much as the next voter.

What I don't understand are those who instantly have the knee jerk "voter fraud" complaints or insinuations as soon as things don't go their way. Before all the results were even in, when it didn't look so good for Prosser, people on here were doing plenty of that.

If there's evidence to back up such complaints, let's see it. If not, those people should knock it off. That's not a party thing. It's a common sense thing.

This 10,000 vote thing where the only selection was Kloppenberg...is that validated anywhere? Or just on the Daily Caller? That would seem to be a HUGE fraud marker, no? I wouldn't believe that anyone would leave other contests blank if they went to the polls. No way. If this is true, then that's bullshit.

I don't get at all this business about "you only shout about vote fraud when your guy is losing."

No one, ever, shouts about vote fraud in general. Republicans shout about vote fraud being performed by Democrats, and, sometimes, Democrats shout about vote fraud being performed by Republicans. Again, no one shouts about vote fraud in the abstract.

But if you are a Republican who believes (as I do) that Democrats routinely manufacture votes (not a billion, but a non-insignificant number), if the Republican wins anyway, of course I shout less. It didn't work. It didn't make any difference in the end. So why shout?

Another day, another wingnut lying as he goes. In fact, Waukesha County's turnout was smack on average among counties the adjoin it. If anything the real story is the relatively low turnout in Milwaukee County.

If you look at my posts from Tuesday around 1am, I think I noted that Waukesha's turn out based on the AP numbers was about 58% of last November's total turn out. (i deleted my computation sheet). In contrast, the other suburban counties next to it ranged from 66-70%. The non metro counties were all between 65-75%. Dane was over 80%. Thus, either there is an explanation for the lower turn out in Waukesha, or the stories are true that the vote count is being corrected.

Living in Waukesha County, I can say that the clerk is not playing with a full deck. She has been repeatedly asked to update the election systems but claims security issues. She still uses modems for crying out loud. The software probably resides on a PS2.

Musical chairs misses the point entirely. Because it doesn't follow that November's voters would come back now to undo the election - and do so by choosing a hard-left judicial hack like - exactly like - Kloppenburg.

And again, why have so many Wisconsinites taken vows of poverty? What can possibly account for this sudden flowering of selfless altruism?

This is fun, though. Reminds me of a baseball game I saw a while back, Boston v. Seattle. An inside-the-park homer, a grand slam, then a two-run homer -- all in the 8th, 9th, and 10th innings, with the lead shifting three times.

Remember, kiddos, it ain't over until Milwaukee County certifies, and their reported turnout was very, very low. Even if Brookfield gets added, Milwaukee could reverse it again. Just sayin'.

And now with the computer error in Brookfield....he leads by over 7000 votes.....hmmmm.....do elections matter now? Seems to me someone commented on this blog that elections matter, Kloppy won, get over it....now what????

Someone once asked a Democrat power broker (Joe Kennedy?) why, when he fixed elections, he made the results so close. And his response was something like: 'Why pay for 500 votes when we only need 100?'

Whoever it was, the Waukesha auditor or the AP, they've screwed the Democrats on this one -- the Democrats didn't generate quite enough fraudulent ballots.

Don't worry though -- they can make up 7000 votes, easy. They generated 200,000 of them in Ohio in 2008.

So, to some of the left-of-center commenters here, let me see if I can get something across to you. The Republicans watched the Florida recount in 2000, and how Gore kept insisting just one more canvass of the votes was needed -- and how the vote total kept narrowing. The Republicans watched Rossi get recounted out of the WA gubernatorial race in 2004. They watched Norm Coleman lose to the un-funniest comedian in the world whose name isn't Carrot Top when a bunch of ballots were just "found" somewhere.

In other words, we've been conditioned to expect these sorts of things in close races. So it's no wonder we reacted like we did Tuesday night. And you're blaming us for not waiting like good little boys and girls when we think we're seeing it happen AGAIN?

I feel exactly the same about it. I want the fraud looked into, and I suspect his lead will increase from such inspection, but even if it means he loses, so be it. Although I really want him to win, there are more important things than winning.

And may I just say, in addition, that I have zero pity for ANY state which falls victim to election fraud if they're not using optical scan. My state (Oklahoma) uses it exclusively. You get immediate readouts after the election for your precinct, and in the event of a readout, you still have all the paper ballots. It's easy to operate, no butterfly ballots. And with a few simple security precautions it becomes practically impossible to stuff the ballot boxes. I honestly have no idea why every state doesn't use it. (Well, at least I don't if they're interested in preserving the integrity of the electoral process.)

And may I just say, in addition, that I have zero pity for ANY state which falls victim to election fraud if they're not using optical scan. My state (Oklahoma) uses it exclusively. You get immediate readouts after the election for your precinct, and in the event of a readout, you still have all the paper ballots. It's easy to operate, no butterfly ballots. And with a few simple security precautions it becomes practically impossible to stuff the ballot boxes. I honestly have no idea why every state doesn't use it. (Well, at least I don't if they're interested in preserving the integrity of the electoral process.)

WI is 90% optical scanning, which apparently isn't as reliable as everyone (including myself) has believed. The issue in Waukesha apparently is how the votes totals were aggregated and reported to the AP after the ballots were scanned.

This <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8448>liberal blogger</a> has been all over the voting integrity issue (including in Wisconsin) for a long time.

The error came when Waukesha County clerk Kathy Nickolaus failed to save some 14,000 votes that came from wards in Brookfield before passing the vote total along to the Associated Press

Some history on Kathy Nicklaus:

Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus, a former staffer for the Assembly Republican Caucus, has been sharply criticized in recent months for her handling of recent elections. Even the archly-conservative Waukesha County Board has sharply condemned Nickolaus after past elections, demanding an immediate audit of her practices following ominous red-flags that emerged regarding her lack of oversight, failure to create backup files and her stubborn insistence to “keep everything secret.” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/18/10; 1/17/11]

The County auditors said it was eminently possible -- including historical precedent -- for Nickolaus or a rogue employee to tamper with data. Why? Nickolaus insists on controlling password access and has unilaterally decided to move sensitive files, like election results, onto her personal computer.

Though I find voter fraud to be a fundamental attack on democracy, as a Chicagoan I understand it happens. But in a non-partisan JUDICIAL election, it seems particularly reprehensible. We should all be hoping there is no fraud here even if its exposure helps our side politically.

I think it's great fun, for the record. Obviously, they'll have to recount Waukesha, which by the way has quite the history of foolish Republican officeholders. They include the county clerk, whose been in trouble before over mistabulation of election results.

And children, you really have to remember that Milwaukee County hasn't certified anything yet. And their turnout reported to the AP was almost one-third lower than Ozaukee's.

Oh, garage, you're not to worry - some eminently distinguished PoliSci prof from UW dropped by the other day and said that electoral fraud was unpossible in Wisconsin because you guys are so nice or something.

So put down that torch and pitchfork, everything is completely above board and legit. Our best and brightest assure us of this.

I am just commenting on the meme, and the predictable liberal and conservative responses to that meme, and speculating on how amusing it would be if the name of the county was somehow changed. Defenders of democracy, all!

" I am just commenting on the meme, and the predictable liberal and conservative responses to that meme, and speculating on how amusing it would be if the name of the county was somehow changed. Defenders of democracy, all!"

The truth is that you do have a personal view on this, other than just detached objectivity.

What's so bad about that?

Anyhow, I agree that the Prosser votes are clearly legit. And that we need a recount, even though it's not too close to all if this count is accurate. The problem is that nothing has been accurate so far. It's ridiculous enough that I see no reason to accept anything reported as certain.

Simon says - In elections this close, I can't help wonder whether we ought to have a revote rather than a recount. In an election that's a statistical dead heat, the tally is so close that almost any error or artifice could tilt the result.

A revote would have made total sense in Minnesota where the Libertarian took about 15% of the total; the revote would have been a runoff between Coleman and Franken.

But when there are only 2 candidates to begin with, I don't know what another election would accomplish, except more campaigning.

You are so correct that our system cannot count every honest vote, or even determine the honesty of a vote. Close enough was always good enough in the past. Doesn't seem good enough anymore.

There is a joy when truth overcomes lies and evil. When government employees who are the tax benefecaries, NOT Taxpayers, the middle class or the people who pay the bills of the State, are put back in their place after being obnoxious and child-like for an extended period of time. Yeah, it makes me feel good, like a Child, like I just gave you the spanking you deserved, so NA NA NA.